Were You Surprised?
by Jayne-Aural
Summary: Hatori is burned out by work, and forgets his own birthday. The chaos that ensues is more than enough to celebrate, but will Tohru be forgotten underneath all the crazy Sohma interactions? Possible Toriru in future chapters [as yet unwritten]. RnR kthnx
1. What Are You Doing Here?

**A/N: This is my first Fruits Basket fanfiction, written between finishing the anime and the manga**. **So, please forgive any 'errors' regarding Akito, you manga elitists! 3 I ultimately plan to write more for this, but I hope you enjoy what I have here for the time being, and distract yourselves from your rabid support of "Tinged With Pink"! Love you all.**

"Um.. Hatori?" came a small feminine voice from the back of the doctor's office. Hatori slowly turned in his chair to face his visitor, a young woman named Tohru Honda. Surprised, he instantly rose to his feet.

"What is it?" He asked gently. Tohru looked so uncomfortable. He couldn't help but notice she looked that way anytime he was near. He hated it – the entire point of his being a doctor was to help and heal others, not make them shrink in fear. Tohru glanced up at him with those beautiful azure eyes of hers.

"Well.. I.. I'm really not sure.." She responded.

"Okay," the doctor replied patiently. "Does anything feel uncomfortable, or does something hurt?" He questioned, trying to narrow down the problem as quickly as possible so he could fix it. Tohru bit her lip. It was going to be difficult to get to the root of this problem, whatever it happened to be. But Hatori was willing. His heart went out to her. She looked so.. sad. He stepped in closer. He was about to lay a hand on her arm to comfort her when Tohru's head popped up from its previously downcast position.

"Nope! Everything's fine!" Tohru proudly announced. She immediately presented a small gift she had been holding behind her back and smiled widely. Hatori had visibly flinched, although now he was confused. What was she doing? Did she have a problem or not? What was this mysterious gift? Wait..

Then Hatori Sohma realized what he had nearly forgotten as each day ran into the next ... Today was his birthday. He had barely recognized this fact before people began to jump out from every conceivable hiding place in his office and surrounding quarters.

"SURPRISE!" They all exclaimed as one. Hatori didn't have time to react, immediately they were all upon him, showering him with gifts and well wishes. He was overwhelmed, his personal space invaded, his personal hell dispelled for the time being.

Shigure, Ayame, Hatsuharu, Yuki, Kyo, Momiji, Kisa, and Hiro circled around the birthday boy, their faces warm with smiles. Uh.. Well, all but Kyo and Hiro, who were equally pouting that the others dragged them along. Tohru had left the small gift on Hatori's desk and had disappeared.


	2. A Gift? Really, You Shouldn't Have D:

**A/N: Haha, here's the second chapter.  
Ayame has a special gift for Hatori, and there is a bit of birthday embarrassment to be continued in Ch. 3! **

Hatori's eye scanned the crowd, trying to anticipate their next move. A surprise party? This was surely a case study in mass insanity for the Sohma household. To his knowledge, nothing like this had ever happened. Akito would never allow it. Of course, he was sleeping at the moment, and would be for some time. His raging spastic fit last night forced Hatori to put him down with heavy tranquilizers so he would get some rest.

Not allowing a moment to go to waste, Ayame stepped forward.

"Tori-san! Happy Birthday! I simply can't believe another year has gone by! Oh, how time flies when you're having fun!" A ridiculous giggle escaped his lips before he too, pulled a package from behind his back. "Here you are, Tori-san. I made it myself, especially for you! Oh, I hope and pray it fits!" Ayame's hands were clasped, and an expression of utter rapture plastered on his face. At this, Hatori was mildly and understandably fearful of the foil-encrusted package.He carefully pulled out a pocketknife and began to methodically cut the tape on the package so as not to disturb the wrapping in any way. Aya's face fell.

"Oh, Ha'ri! Don't tease us like this! Open it up now. Don't you want to see what's inside? My delightful creation I spent so much time planning and creating just for this occasion? Open it, pleeease. Quickly, quickly!" the silver-haired designer urged.

A split-second death glare immediately cut Aya's indignant begging short. Hatori made short work of the rest of the package, clipped the knife shut and whisked it back into his pocket. Removing the foil wrapping revealed a bright lime green satin fabric. The doctor regarded it with hesistation as he completely unwrapped it. It was a shirt. A long-sleeved, button-down, embroidery-trimmed, lime green satin shirt. Something Hatori wouldn't be caught dead in. Everyone knew it, and soft gasps could be heard scattered throughout the room. Tohru slipped in with the enormous cake, unnoticed. She hung in the background, waiting for an appropriate moment to place her confection on the large table in the center of the room.

"Uh…Thank you, Ayame." The civil response was definitely more than anyone had expected. Hatori looked sincere, and moved to place the gift on the center table. He was interrupted by Ayame's arm snatching up the shirt and discarding the wrapping.

"Look at it, Tori-san! It's _perfect_ for your party today. Oh, you should wear it! It's such a fabulous color for your skin tone and it offsets your hair just right." Kyo rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh. A few others shifted uncomfortably at Aya's intense attention to detail – and willingness to share his entire diabolical plan for this shirt. Hatori shook his head.

"No, Ayame. I don't think I'll wear it today. Thank you, though." Ayame's face looked as indignant as he possibly could. This was a man who would not take a negative answer.

"Hatori! You _must_ wear it! It's so delicious!" Shigure tried to intervene.

"Now, Aya.. If he doesn't feel like wearing it now.." But the fabric store owner wouldn't hear a word of it.

"Nonsense! Feel the fabric! Won't that feel comfortable? Come on, now! Don't be silly, it's your _duty_ to look marvelous today! It's supposed to be a special day!" The doctor looked resigned.

"All right, Ayame. I'll wear it." Taking the shirt, he turned to exit the room and change.

"Don't be absurd! You can change here, we're all family," Aya insisted. Hatori let out a small sigh of reluctant acceptance. Tohru had left at the very beginning of the party, so Ayame was right. The dragon couldn't resist the convenience of changing in front of everyone. It was logically the next step. Everyone was milling and mixing by this time,and no one would even notice. No big deal. He began to quickly and efficiently unbutton his lab coat, then his shirt, allowing Ayame to take each piece as he removed it.

Hatori picked up the satin work of art and pushed down a rising desire to roll his eyes. He slipped his arms through it easily enough. He took a moment. Ayame was right – it _was _comfortable. Then he looked up toward the center table. There was Tohru, laying the cake down on the table. At any moment, she'd look up and see him, half-dressed as he was. How long had she been there? Had she seen everything? Hatori couldn't move – the horror of that possibility was too arresting.


	3. Don't Mess Up!

**A/N: Hi all, third chapter.I have no idea what gets into me most of the time - I have a strange obsession with describing the bone structure of attractive characters. A couple of friends called me on it when writing this. What can I say, it tickles my fancy. I am proud of my Kyo/Hiro interaction, I think it worked out well. Find a way in your hearts to forgive me for referring to Hatori-san as "the birthday boy"... I was having a creativity low. Ooh... Who sees the traces of Toriru near the end? 3 **

Tohru looked up after properly centering the cake on the table and laying down the knife she brought. She froze when her eyes met with the blazingly lively green of Hatori's new shirt as contrasted with his pale, lean figure. Her eyes trailed up from his trim abs, crawling up his strong sternum, dancing over his clavicle bone and up his elegant neck to his finely angled face – and expression of sheer terror. Ayame's voice snapped his mind's silence in two.

"Come now, Ha'ri. Button up, the princess is present!" Hatori didn't need to be admonished twice. In fact, he was already scrambling to close up the shirt, his frustrated gestures combining with a furious blush spreading across his cheeks. She had seen – not only had she seen his Jyuunshi form, but now.. she had seen him shirtless. How embarrassing. This was especially so since Hatori was one fiercely protective of his own modesty and dignity.

The last pearly button was pushed through the slit of the other side – he was finished. It was a little tight, but the fabric's soft, slippery nature definitely made up for the discomfort. Tohru was all ready to cut the cake, she'd even gathered forks and small plates from Hatori's cabinets with Yuki's help. Momentarily, everyone was gathered around the center table, eyeing the cake with ravenous abandon.

The cake was obviously beautiful, and painstakingly decorated. It read: "Happy Birthday Hatori" in Tohru's lovely penmanship and was surrounded by sky blue and butter yellow flowers made of icing, complete with leaves and textured orange centres. The edges of the cake were frosted with a dark blue wavy design. All in all, it looked professionally made. No one could wait to sink their teeth into its tasty goodness.

Momiji spoke up.

"I want a piece with a flower! Pleeeease, Tohru?" Tohru, holding the knife and about to cut, looked up with confusion written all over her face.

"Momiji! The first piece goes to Grandpa Hatori! It's his birthday.. Remember?" Kisa sweetly reminded the rabbit.

"Oh, all right," Momiji conceded with a bright smile. "Go ahead, Tohru! Cut the first piece for Ha'ri."

Joy shone from Tohru's face as she continued to cut the first piece with unmistakable precision. It was Hatori's birthday – his piece _had_ to be _perfect_. Hiro grunted with disgust.

"This has to be the most idiotic thing I've ever seen. Just cut it already, stop taking so long! It's just a stupid cake, and we all would like to eat _sometime today_," The sarcasm in his voice shook Tohru, and the perfect piece fell lopsided onto the first plate. The girl jumped with surprise at her mistake. Kyo growled.

"Finally! Now get to my piece. I wanna get this dumb cake stuff over with," Hiro demanded.

"I'm gonna punch your face in if you say one more word about that cake!" Kyo hissed, pushing his way past Hatsuharu and Shigure to seal his threat. Of course, Shigure caught his arm.

"We wouldn't want to fight so near to the cake, now, would we?" he whispered discreetly in the cat's ear.

"Fine," Kyo conceded gruffly. "I'm still gonna kill that sheep if he so much as makes a sound, though."

Tohru's face was flush with embarrassment as she handed the first piece, complete with fork, to the birthday boy.

"Here you are.. Hatori," her voice almost a whisper. Hatori took the plate and fork, giving a small smile to the lopsided piece of cake and then turning it towards Tohru.

"Thank you very much, Tohru." Seeing his approval, the girl was sparked with life and immediately began to cut pieces for the rest of the guests present.


End file.
